Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway were found dead early on December 17 near the village of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains. The man arrested, whose name has not yet been released, is also suspected of “involvement in recruiting Moroccan and sub-Saharan nationals to carry out terrorist plots in Morocco against foreign targets and security forces in order to take hold of their service weapons”, the Central Bureau for Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) said. It said the man also held Spanish nationality with residence in Morocco.
Nineteen other men have been arrested in connection with the case, including four main suspects who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a video made three days before the tourists’ bodies were found.
Police and domestic intelligence spokesman Boubker Sabik this week described the four men as “lone wolves”, and said “the crime was not coordinated with Islamic State”.
Speaking to AFP, Abdelhak Khiam, head of Morocco’s central office for judicial investigation, said the ringleader was Abdessamad Ejjoud, a 25-year-old street vendor living on the outskirts of Marrakech.
Mr Khiam said Mr Ejjoud had “formed a kind of cell that discussed how to carry out a terrorist act inside the kingdom”.
Horrific images shared by the perpetrators online appear to show the severed and partially severed heads of the young women.
In the video recording the men are heard saying: “This is revenge for our brothers in Hajine in Syria.
“These are your heads, enemy of God.”
Rachid Imerhade, a mountain guide who met the pair a few days earlier, said: “They were smiling, chatty and sociable. They talked a lot with the other people around.”
Helle Petersen, Ms Jespersen’s mother, the Danish newspaper BT her daughter was “always happy and positive. Everyone loved her and she saw the best in everyone”.
Ms Petersen added she had been worried about Louisa travelling to Morocco “because of the chaotic situation”.
Writing on Facebook, Glen Martin, Louisa’s ex-boyfriend, described her as a “funny, full of energy, bundle of joy” who was “inclusive, caring and thoughtful.”
He added: “It breaks my heart that there is someone who would hurt you, you always saw the very best in people and you brought out the best in the people around you.
“You travelled around the world just as you would, you would not be limited by fear of all the dangers of the world.”
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg condemned the “brutal and meaningless attack on innocent people”.
Compared with other countries in North Africa, Morocco has been largely insulated from militant attacks.
The most recent took place in April 2011, when 17 people were killed in the bombing of a restaurant in Marrakech.
In 2017 and 2018, Morocco said it dismantled 20 militant cells planning attacks in the country.